Former Yugoslavia rivalries spark clashes

Two matches pitting teams from the former Yugoslavia sparked crowd trouble in the first leg of the UEFA Cup first qualifying round on Thursday.

Rival fans clashed in the Bosnian city of Mostar where local team Zrinjski entertained Serbia's Partizan Belgrade and trouble also erupted around the match between Montenegro's Buducnost Podgorica and Croatian counterparts Hajduk Split.

The game in Mostar came perilously close to being abandoned as play was held up for 10 minutes early in the first half after fans clashed with understrength riot police while pelting each other with rocks and flares.

Buffer zone

It resumed after police and security stewards, few and far between for what was declared a high-risk encounter, moved in to create a buffer zone between the 8,000 home fans and some 1,000 visiting supporters.

After the match, amid chaotic scenes, 36 people were injured and six arrested.

There were no such fireworks on the pitch and a hat-trick by former Zrinjski striker Lamine Diarra helped Partizan to a 6-1 rout ahead of the return leg in Belgrade on August 2.

In Montenegro, 60 people were arrested after the home fans of Buducnost hurled rocks at buses taking the Hajduk faithful to their game that ended in a 1-1 draw.

Police reported sporadic fighting before and after the match watched by a near-capacity 12,000 crowd.